Incommunicado

Ah yes, it’s been a few days we’ve been incommunicado. Yes, it happens it places like this. Issues of connectivity in a country sparsely inhabited, differing SIM cards which take a while to figure out, electrical plugs that don’t fit, and finally we’re just having too good a time!!

So where shall I start in order to catch up?

Day 1 Johannesburg to Moreti Camp

First, had to say good-bye to our hosts at Hadeda Hall. They had been wonderful hosts and even going to the extent of inviting us for dinner during the rugby game between the Springboks and England. What a night. And just this morning, we learnt the Springboks beat the All Blacks, so people here are going crazy. So, goodbye to Maikye and Bryan.

Next was to pick up Dave and Lesley from their guest home and then off to Bushlore which is located north east of Johannesburg just before Pretoria. Travis came to pick us up at each of our guest houses and was the one to provide us with the intiation into driving one of their beasts – an 8 cylinder, 4 wheel drive split differential Toyota Land Cruiser.

2 hours later, we pulled out of Bushlore’s yard and headed over to the fueling station to begin our adventure. And boy, were our heads ever spinning from the amount of information that we had just had to absorb in terms of the operation of the vehicle.

Here we are after the first night in Moreti Bush Camp on the South African side of the border with Botswana called Martin’s Drift. There’s lots to learn about all the functions and the first day we arrived was in the dark at the campsite. It took a little longer than expected to get everything set up for the night but we succeeded with the help of the light from an almost full moon. 

Day 1 did not come without incident. Minding our own business on the road leading to Botswana were lots of trucks from the mining in the area. One went by and CRACK went our windscreen. small shards of glass came inside and as the days went on the cracks grew and now we are in Maun waiting for Monday morning to get a new windscreen.

DAY 2 – Moreti on the Limpopo River to Rhino Sanctuary

Only 5km to the Botswana border – Martins Crossing. For most of the way both sides of the road is lined with trucks. We’re not sure if they are waiting for directions from the owners about potential pick ups or are they waiting to cross? Anyway, 100s of trucks and assume they will soon find their loads and/or cross over.

For us our crossing was fairly routine, although lots of uncertainty as to which counter to go to, who to talk to, what to pay, if anything, and general confusion. Keeping a smile on and being polite and patient pays off handsomely. The whole process only took us about an hour,  and we got free condoms and lots of laughter from the border health inspectors whose job was to make sure we had no intention of spreading diseases while on tour. Dave was the winner in terms of getting the most condoms. We’re  not sure if that was just because he is the handsomnest or if he has the look of the most likely to carry disease?

Finally on our way and 200km to go to the Rhino Sanctuary, our next camping site.

A quick set up, a drink or two and then off on a 2 hour drive around the sanctuary with Tea. We took off around 1600hrs and, of course, saw mostly rhinos. But what beautiful and majestic animals. They have both white and the black rhino. Here are a few shots from the rhino sanctuary. There were also giraffes, warthogs, springbok etc

Day 3 Rhino Sanctuary to Botiti River Camp

A cold morning to start the day. Mornings start at around 24C and quickly rise to a mid afternoon max of 41C – like sitting beside a radiator on a cold winters day in Canada! By 2200hrs temperatures drop to around 32C,  allowing one to start dozing off without sweating. It’s a dry heat, thank god.

Botiti River Camp to Maun

We had planned to stay 2 nights at Botiti but having met a couple of South African wanderers, John and Nolene, who invited us to drive into the local park the next day. So, break camp at 0800hrs and following John and Nolene, we headed out into the park and followed the Botiti River, which was running slow and low. However, the river valley was full of zebras, elephants, ostriches, wildebeast, steenbok, kudus and stuck Germans.

Yes, driving is a challenge in the parks. Having a 4X4 is a necessity and also being supplied with shovels, tow ropes, traction pad and winches, and a little raw man power. On this day, we came across a couple of German tourists who had managed to sink their car up to their bumpers in deep sand. They  had no equipment and had not done the basic for sand driving which is to lower the tire pressure from 3 kpi to 1.5 kpi.With a few people looking on we drove down in the the river basin from the ridge, dug out the sand from around the vehicle, attached the a tow line and dragged them out from a stable position above them. All worked well, but all this is done in the blazing sun at 38C! Calls for a good drink after…what an excuse!

We’re in Maun for two nights, and then we are going incognito again and this time for 9 days. We will have no contact during this time, but we will have some great stories to share with you as long as we’re not eaten by a lion or a crocodile or a hyena or….